I have to confess that when a colleague said ‘try some of these freeze dried peas, they’re nice and crunchy’ I was not entirely convinced.
Fresh peas, tinned peas, mushy peas, frozen peas I can cope with, and enjoy. But ‘freeze dried’? I am ashamed to say I advanced on the proffered bowl cautiously. The peas in spite of being smooth and round felt very hard, and I had visions of a broken tooth.
Four different flavours
I scooped out a small handful and popped them in my mouth. Hmm, nice and crunchy but not hard, and they had a hint of salt and vinegar.
Noticing my surprise my colleague added ‘There are three other flavours’, throwing three small bags to me, ‘Sweet Chilli, Ham Hock and Parmesan and Truffle.
During the course of the lunch break I tried them all, and liked them. The flavours were fairly subtle (maybe too subtle for some taste buds), apart from the Sweet Chilli which packed a fair punch of heat; and beneath the seasonings the unmistakable flavour of sweet, newly picked fresh peas.
Low calorie, gluten free and one of my five a day
I was a bit worried about how fattening they were but on reading the packets I was pleased to see that each of Podberry’s 20g packs comes in at only 70 calories; the peas are high in fibre, contain 4.5g protein, are virtually fat free and each pack counts as one of my five a day, and they are fine for vegans.
I suddenly realised that my colleague was tucking into them like a thing possessed and I went slightly into panic mode as he is not allowed anything containing gluten. He, however, had read the packets more carefully than I had – they contain no gluten, and neither are there any artificial nasties.
A Perthshire farm
Later back at my desk I did a bit of research into Podberry’s pea snacks.
The peas are grown on the family run Bruce Farm in Perthshire where the family have been farming for four generations, since 1898 to be precise. The peas are freeze dried within about two and a half hours of having been picked, you can’t get much fresher than that.
The family cultivate several thousands of acres of land on which also grow the likes of potatoes, beans, and soft fruits for companies such as Birds Eye and Ribena as well as other well-known household names.
Available from…
For folk living in Scotland these crunchy little snacks that go so well with a nice glass of something cool and refreshing are obtainable in Scottish branches of Morrisons.
Look out for the clever and stylishly designed Podberry packs; their RRP is £1 for a 20g packet. But for those of us south of the border don’t panic, the crunchy pea snacks are heading to outlets in the south and anyway we can order them in packs of eight for £7 online at https://www.eatpodberry.co.uk/
